“Lead a healthy life so you can handle any crisis.” On otakus and wellness. / Thus Spoke Hijiki Isoflavone

Today’s theme is “otakus and health.” Have you ever met a physically fit otaku, though?! Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an overgeneralization, but I do have this mental image of my brethren browsing the interwebs all day long after getting home from work or school, and then doing the same thing in bed on weekends. As such, I’m always shaken to the core when I encounter the type of otaku who goes jogging during their work breaks.

Anyway, I doubt I’m the only one who imagines otakus of the 2D-loving variety to be mostly indoorsy people, but lately, it seems like more and more of them have started to realize the undeniable truth: health is wealth. Many people are now sharing testimonials such as “Squats improved my concentration!” or “Boxing healed my stiff shoulders!” on social media, evangelizing the benefits of exercising. The fact that such words have reached even little old me means that the people in my own social circle have also begun to take their health more seriously. After all, time doesn’t stop for anyone, and we all age equally at the same pace.

As for whether I care about my health, I do... to an extent. While I stretch or strength train occasionally, it’s hardly anything serious, not to mention I do it with a reluctance that is only overshadowed by a sense of moral obligation.

However, I, too, have begun to realize that things will only get harder unless I seriously come to terms with the importance of looking after my health...

For starters, I can no longer leave things until the last minute like I used to.

As a chronic procrastinator, I find it pretty much impossible to get started until the ticking of the clock lights a fire under me, and I normally count down the hours to my deadline so I know when to get a move on with work (I know, I know, don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched). Recently, however, cracks have started to show in my once foolproof plan, and my concentration inevitably wanes at some point.

Above all, I give up more easily nowadays—or you could say I know when to quit now, to put it more positively.

For example, when I went to an event at Tokyo Big Sight, the largest international exhibition center in Japan, a while back, the old me was fully determined to see the entire venue and was able to walk from hall to hall without breaking a sweat.

I have a pedometer app with eight years worth of data stored on it, and if you were to rearrange the daily number of steps from highest to lowest, you’d notice that the days I’ve walked the most are almost always the days I’ve attended a doujinshi event.

And now look at me. I’ve started joining events as part of a circle because I can’t be bothered to wait in line for general admission, and once I’ve acquired what I want, I simply sit at my booth without doing anything else. To be honest, I doubt I can traverse the great distance from the East Exhibition Hall to the West Exhibition Hall (a trip that takes approximately ten minutes) ever again.

Walking around amusement parks, waving glowsticks at concerts for hours on end, and staring at screens for an extended amount of time—activities I once did with ease—are now done with trepidation, and I find myself worrying about reaching my limit or how they might affect me the following day. Ultimately, even otakus need stamina for successful otaku-ing.

Lately, I feel like the content that’s being put out there is becoming more attuned to otakus’ wellbeing, and there seem to be more shows and franchises that refuse to let our health deteriorate.

I’m no exception, and I find myself exercising to the cheers of my favorite characters’ voice actors, strength training with idols on apps, buying a pedometer themed after the idol I stan, competing with other otakus over who has the best smartwatch sleeping score, and so on. Sure, the marketing team has got me dancing in the palm of their hand, but at least I’m trying to build healthier habits.

At this rate, stuff like blood pressure monitors that allow you to have separate oshi colors for the pressure gauge and the cuff or collaborative aerobic exercises with your favorite series might become more and more common.

Are there any benefits of accumulating these so-called “wellness virtue points” (yes, that’s a term I made up) though? Being able to otaku hard without losing steam is, of course, the biggest perk of working out, but truthfully, I don’t feel like I’m able to concentrate any better on my writing. Um, hello? Is there any point in keeping this up? There is, however, one thing that makes me glad that I’m healthy.

Last year, I traveled by night bus from my hometown of Ehime to Tokyo for a concert the following day.

Under normal circumstances, the journey is already a 13-hour affair. To make matters worse, however, my trip coincided with a typhoon, and I ended up being stuck on the bus for 17 hours straight. Obviously, everyone was exhausted, and I imagine we all had blank looks in our eyes.

Somehow, the gloom and doom didn’t get to me—either because my exercise routine actually helped or because I’m used to sitting for days on end courtesy of my job as a mangaka—and I happily worked on my manuscript for hours. Once the bus arrived in Tokyo, I sprinted to the venue and was able to shout and wave my glowsticks around like a maniac for the entire two-and-a-half hours of the concert. Where on earth did that energy come from? A complete mystery.

When engaging in otaku activities, there are times when you experience a surge of hormones such as dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, giving you the sense that you’re invincible. I suppose that’s what happened to me when I attended that concert.

In a crisis, that sort of explosive energy comes from the things you love. Perhaps otakus should, at the very least, try to build healthier habits bit by bit so our bodies can keep up with that energy when the time comes.

As for what happened to me after the concert, I deflated like a balloon, and despite swearing to my friend that I would work on my manuscript when I got to my hotel, I immediately conked out.

Dang. If only I’d been more physically fit, I might have been able to stay awake... (Know thy limits, fool.)